Umpah 6: Probable Fake Surfaces
Posted in Patch Collecting by John E. Pannell on May 16th, 2009 at 6:05 am 
Umpah 6 ZR1?
Tom Price, from Wagion lodge, has recently come into possession of a patch that he claims is the only known issue from Umpah 6. I have been told that Tom received this patch anonymously from someone in Arizona.
According to the history of Wagion lodge, published on Wagion’s website, Umpah lodge was founded on June 7, 1921 in Fayette County Council. Due to financial constraints the lodge did not sent a delegate to the Grand Lodge meeting in 1922. It struggled and after several attempts to revive it, Umpah lodge was declared in active in 1925. Fayette County Council was dissolved shortly thereafter. If proven authentic, a patch from this lodge would be an extraordinary find indeed. For many reasons, I do not believe this piece authentic.
Umpah Patch and Accompanying Membership Card Sleeve
(Editor’s note: Due to the nature of this topic, I have posted the images at the same size which they were sent to me by Tom, only cropping away excess white space as appropriate. Click the image links to see the large images.)
The first sign that this patch is not authentic is how it was reportedly acquired: sent to Tom anonymously. Someone just doesn’t give away an 85 year old patch anonymously because they think the recipient is interested in it, or just a general good guy.
There is at least one collector in the hobby with a known reputation for producing fake patches, just to “punk” collectors. In 2000 someone anonymously mailed NOAC 2000 patches from Cherokee 50, mentioned on this site’s 2000 NOAC page, and of course they were not authentic. Other inauthentic items have been similarly made and distributed.
Tom reports this patch, pictured at the head of this post, is in pristine mint condition and was found in a membership card sleeve. An image of the patch and card sleeve together is pictured to the right. Two problems immediately appear with this.
First a felt patch that is over 85 years old is not likely to remain in crisp condition. The passage of time alone will cause the white ink to fade and the felt to decay. Damage from temperature changes would be expected as modern air conditioning came into wide use decades after this patch was supposedly issued. Yellowing can be expected if it truly were stored in this paper sleeve for an extended period of time. Moth damage would be expected. More importantly early Scout patches were generally used, not stored away. An early Scout would have proudly sewn something like this onto his uniform or merit badge sash.
Also, look at the card and patch together. Without tearing the card sleeve, it is highly improbable that patch could have fit into the sleeve. It’s too big. Tom reports there is a tear in the sleeve but that it appears to have been made more recently.
Beyond the pristine mint condition, there are other issues with the physical condition of this item. White flecks of ink can still be seen on the black felt. One would expect these to have worn off over 80+ years. Bill Topkis also expressed to me concern over the black felt this item is made of. He has arguably seen and owned more pre-1940 OA patches than any other collector and is an expert on early OA insignia. Based upon this image, he does not think the felt appears to be from the 1920s. He also pointed out this patch appears to be block printed. Such a process can easily be faked.
The 1916 constitution of Unami lodge, followed by other lodges in the early years of the Order, specified the insignia of the Order and its form:
“The tortoise shall be the general insignia of the Order; for the First Degree the insignia shall be the arrow superimposed upon the back of the tortoise; for the Second Degree the isnignia shall be the triangle superimposed on the back of the tortoise. The pin of the order shall bear the above insignia; the pledge pin shall be the arrow…”1
Originally there were two degrees of membership in the Order. The First Degree was roughly similar to today’s Brotherhood membership. The Second Degree was the equivalent of the Vigil Honor. A pledge is roughly analogous to what is now Ordeal membership. This would evolve into the system of three degrees familiar to us today.
In the early 1920′s the insignia of the “Wimachtendienk, Wingolauchsik, Witahemui” was in the form of a pin. The insignia again varied by degree as specified in the 1921 “Constitution of the Grand Lodge Wimachtendienk Wingolauchsik Witahemui”:
“The general insignia of the Order shall be the arrow, which shall also be the mark of the First Degree. The mark of the Second Degree shall be the totem of the individual lodge superimposed upon the arrow. The mark of the Third Degree shall be the triangle superimposed upon the mark of the Second Degree.”2
The first cloth emblems were not authorized until the 1926 Grand Lodge meeting, and even then only for Second Degree (and by implication, Third Degree) brothers:
“…As the committees reported out their opinions and recommendations, a ‘first’ in the history of the Order appeared. For the first time, the Grand Lodge authorized lodges to adopt a felt emblem as its Second Degree totem, with an arrow superimposed on it…”3
Given the lodge was completely inactive a year before the Grand Lodge approved the first cloth emblems, and then only for those who held the Second Degree, it is highly unlikely an impoverished and struggling lodge would have made the patch pictured.
The patch design is also anachronistic. As has already been show, the arrow with the lodge totem was the insignia of the Second Degree. At this time Second Degree members wore their sash over the left shoulder. Other patches from the 1920s, of which there are very few, are design with the arrow point to the right when viewed, so that when worn it would point over the brother’s left shoulder. Examples of this include the Ranachqua 4 C1 and Minsi 5 C2 (C1 is not pictured on this site), both of which were issued in the late 1920s.
Also early Scout patches, generally did not have wording so using the lodge name on the patch would arguably be anachronistic. You can see this in BSA insignia of the time as well as the early OA patches mentioned above. The Unami R1, though, is an interesting and very special counter-example.
Next we can move on to the card sleeve. Typed on the card sleeve is the message, “Mr. Getz Check this out.” Mr. Getz is well known to historians in this part of Pennsylvania and this phrase is the lone piece of evidence to support a claim that this patch was issued by Umpah 6.
This is a very unusual message. First, Mr. Getz was the Scout Executive in the council in the early 1920s. Surely he would know of any patch the lodge issued and would not need to be told about it after the fact. Next the typist would appear to be a youth and addressing a respected adult with such familiarity would be unusual for the 1920s. Finally there is the matter of the phrase, “Check this out”. The one online source I have found with phrase etymologies dates this to the mid-1900s, so it was quite possibly not used in the early 1920s.
Additionally, I have shown the image of this sleeve to several collectors familiar with early BSA membership cards and their sleeves. To date three have responded. All have independently replied that they believe the card to be from the late 1940s. The message could have been added recently by someone with a manual typewriter. It does not date from the 1920s.
As of the time I am writing this, the patch has not been independently authenticated by any expert in the dating of textiles. Old felt can be had, so any authentication would have to go beyond dating the felt, or even the ink, used. There are ways to authenticate an item like this looking for other signs and evidence of when the item was made. Among other things this would include an examination for signs of tracing, either of the design or border, and how or with what that tracing was done. There are other types of evidence an expert would look for that probably should not be mentioned lest this post serve as an instructional manual to those who wish to create “old” patches.
If this patch were real, it would be the oldest known OA patch by several years. It would also be the only known example of the only patch from a lodge that disappeared nearly 85 years ago. An authentic patch from Umpah 6 would be a very significant piece of OA history. As such, I believe a very high standard must be maintained in any attempt to verify its authenticity. Based upon the lack of evidence substantiating this piece, the lack of any provenance for the patch, and the issues I have discussed here, it is my opinion that this patch is not authentic. As such, if listed it should be the ZR1 from Umpah 6.
Footnotes:
1. Davis, Kenneth P., The Brotherhood of Cheerful Service: A History of the Order of the Arrow (Second Edition, 1998 printing), p. 205.
2. ibid, p. 212
3. ibid, p. 25
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Very well written and researched. Great job John.